Bells Bend Park and Outdoor Center

Bells Bend is an enormous (800+ acre) park on the Cumberland River that includes a very nice Outdoor Center with spotless restrooms, an interpretive center, and a few benches to sit and admire the expansive sky. We went on a Saturday and were shocked to find almost no cars. The person staffing the outdoor center was a bit abrupt and not openly friendly about talking about the park, but seemed pleased to see so many hikers that day. This surprised us, since there were maybe half a dozen folks on the trails.
We tried navigating the confusing trail signs and high grasses (which definitely harbored ticks). Some of the trails appeared to be nothing more than a tractor mowing out a space for folks to walk, and it looks like mowing hadn’t happened in a while. There was only one bench/​overlook on the river itself.
Nature was plentiful — we saw wildflowers, birds, deer, and a rabbit — and it’s wonderful to find an uncrowded park on a weekend. But it would be great to have more volunteers who could make this open space come to life, with better trail maintenance, improved trail signs, and possibly some interpretive signs along the river and at the ponds.